Princess Ghyka & Miss Florence Blood at the Gamberaia: Stories from the Letters & Diaries of Mary & Bernard Berenson & of Other Neighbors, Friends, & Visitors on "Our Hillside"

Most of what we know about the Villa Gamberaia in the late 1800s and early 1900s centers on two women: the Romanian Princess Catherine Jeanne Ghyka, who purchased the villa in 1896, and her companion, the American artist Florence Blood: the subject of the second book in the series. Most of our information comes, in turn, through writings left by Mary and Bernard Berenson and other neighbors on the hillside of Settignano, especially the letters and diaries now preserved in various archival collections. Not surprisingly, such sources reflect the interests and biases of their authors, but it is through the stories they relate (and, too, the gossip they exchange) that we catch rare glimpses into the lives and personalities of the princess and Miss Blood, meet the artists and writers who frequented the villa, and sense the extraordinary attraction of the gardens and landscape that drew them, and so many friends and visitors, to the Gamberaia — a villa that for years, Berenson tells us, remained one of the beacons of his life.

By Patricia Osmond
32 pages
Published by Centro Di, 2024
Paperback